Season 2

Release Date

Diablo 4’s second season began on October 17 at 10 a.m. PDT with Patch 1.2.0,

Beginning with Season of Blood, players have the option to skip the Campaign after completing the Missing Pieces quest from the Prologue on the Seasonal Realm. Choosing to do so will allow you to jump right into content from Season of Blood.

Season 2 Theme Details

At first, they targeted small hamlets, descending upon insignificant prey and tearing into their jugular—a most grisly death to befall someone. But then their ambitions grew, and they became sloppy, greedy. That’s when word of suspicious vampire activity met your ears, wanderer.

Magistrate Oren, the distraught leader of a town badly plagued by these bloodthirsty assailants, needs your help in investigating the recent slew of murders. Enter Sanctuary’s vampire-infested underbelly in a new Questline, recruit the skillful vampire hunter Erys to your cause, and discover the sinister plot of the Dark Master behind it all.

Blizzard Notes for Season 2

Mechanics

Driving a stake into the heart of the Dark Master’s plan will require you to wield their same savagery—Vampiric Powers. What was once a forbidden art shall become Sanctuary’s salvation. But to wield it, you’re going to need blood, Potent Blood. Acquired from fallen adversaries, Potent Blood can be spent in the Vampiric Powers tab within the Character menu to unlock a random power or power upgrade. Vampiric Powers can also be unlocked by completing the Seasonal Questline and from the Blood Harvest Seasonal Event. We’ll cover the latter in detail later.

After learning a Vampiric Power, you can spend Potent Blood in the powers tab to take its might to the next Level. Each power can be upgraded to a maximum of Level 3 and up to five powers can be equipped to your character at a time. When you hover over a Vampiric Power, you’ll notice it displays anywhere between 1–3 symbols and numbers—these are called Pacts and the number is their associated cost. This is where Pact Armor comes into play.

Unpack Your Vampire Power Through Pact Armor

There are three Pact types in total. Using the above image for reference, from left to right, they are called Ferocity, Divinity, and Eternity. Keep your eyes peeled for Chest armor, Pants, Gloves, Boots, and Helms containing Pacts that drop during Season of Blood because they are needed to activate your Vampiric Powers. Once you have both Pact Armor and Vampiric Powers equipped, you’ll need to ensure that the armor you’re wearing provides Pacts that match the activation cost listed on the power.

Let’s use the above Legendary Gloves as an example. They provide 1 Ferocity, 1 Divinity, and 1 Eternity Pacts. If you have a Vampiric Power that requires 1 Ferocity to activate, then this item alone covers the requirement, and you still have 1 Divinity and 1 Eternity available. If you equip a second Vampiric Power that requires both 1 Divinity and 1 Eternity to activate, the boots still provide enough Pacts to activate both powers.

Customize Pact Armor to Your Needs

You might not always have armor with the right Pacts to activate the Vampiric Powers in your collection. The Dark Master’s servants have devised two types of items to remedy this situation: standalone Pacts and Cleansing Acids.

Standalone Pacts are used to add a specific type of Pact to an item of your choice (this can only be done if the maximum amount of that Pact type isn’t already on that item). Cleansing Acids are used to remove Pacts from an item.

These crafting items can be pried from the clutches of Blood Seekers, as well as acquired from the Blood Harvest Season event, Season Journey, Opulent Coffins, and through the new Questline. Use these tools to ensure you always have Pact Armor that matches the Vampiric Powers you’d like to use.

Bleed New Blood into Your Build

Now that you’ve learned of Vampiric Powers and Pact Armor, let’s look at the 22 Vampiric Powers available in Season of Blood. All Classes can wield any Vampiric Power, and in doing so, they will sculpt your character into a vampire-killing machine. Will you seek to diversify your collection of powers or concentrate your resources on maxing out a handful of them?

The new Vampiric Curse keyword has been added to complement these terrifying powers. Look out for it as you read about each power.

Vampiric Curse: Killing an enemy affected by your Vampiric Curse stores their soul. Casting a Defensive, Macabre, or Agility Skill will unleash stored souls to attack nearby enemies. You can hold up to 8 souls.

Expand drop-down for all Vampiric Powers.

Minor Vampiric Powers (1–3 Pacts Required): Anticipation (1 Divinity): Your Ultimate Skills gain 20% Cooldown Reduction. Your Ultimate Skills gain 12% increased damage for each nearby enemy affected by your Damage Over Time effects. Coven’s Fangs (2 Divinity): Your Conjuration, Companion, Minion, and Bat Familiar attacks deal 52% increased damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. Lucky Hit: Your Conjuration, Companion, Minion, and Bat Familiar have up to a 30% chance to inflict Vampiric Curse when hitting enemies. Domination (1 Ferocity): You deal 24% increased damage to enemies who are Stunned, Immobilized, Frozen, or Feared. If they’re also Injured and not an Elite, they’re instantly killed. Feed the Coven (1 Eternity): Lucky Hit: Conjuration, Companion, Minion and Bat Familiar attacks have up to a 60% chance to restore 10 Primary Resource to you and increase your Damage by 10% for 4 seconds. Hectic (3 Divinity): For every 5 Basic Skills you cast, one of your active Cooldowns is reduced by 2 seconds. Hemomancy (3 Eternity): Your attacks deal 80% of your Maximum Life as Physical damage to nearby enemies. This can only occur once every 4 seconds. You heal for 1% of your Maximum Life for each enemy damaged this way. Infection (1 Ferocity): Hitting enemies with direct damage infects them with Pox. Inflicting Pox 8 times on an enemy expunges their infection, dealing 70% Poison damage. Jagged Spikes (1 Ferocity, 1 Divinity): Thorns have a 10% chance to deal 300% increased damage and Chill enemies for 8%. Prey on the Weak (2 Ferocity): You deal 16% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies. Enemies are Vulnerable while affected by a Vampiric Curse from your other Vampiric Powers. Rampart (1 Divinity, 1 Eternity): After not moving for 3 seconds, you gain a Barrier for 40% of your Maximum Life for 6 seconds. This effect can occur once every 20 seconds. Ravenous (3 Ferocity): Lucky Hit: Up to a 20% chance to increase your Attack Speed by 40% of your Total Movement Speed for 6 seconds. Resilience (2 Eternity): You gain 1% Damage Reduction for each 2% Life you are missing. Sanguine Brace (1 Divinity, 1 Eternity): When you kill an enemy, Fortify for 6% of your Base Life. While you have more Fortify than half of your Maximum Life, you gain 8% Critical Strike Chance. Terror (1 Ferocity, 1 Divinity, 1 Eternity): When struck, you have a 14% chance to Fear nearby enemies and Slow them by 80% for 2 seconds. You are guaranteed to Critically Strike enemies who are Feared. Undying (1 Eternity): Casting Skills heals you for 3% Life. Double this bonus while below 50% Life. Major Vampiric Powers (6 Pacts Required): Accursed Touch (6 Divinity): Lucky Hit: Up to a 44% chance to inflict Vampiric Curse on enemies. Enemies with the Vampiric Curse have a 15% chance to spread it to other surrounding enemies. Accursed Souls deal 200% increased damage. Bathe in Blood (3 Divinity, 3 Eternity): While Channeling a Skill, you form a pool of blood beneath you. While channeling a skill in a pool, your Channeled Skills deal 40% increased damage and you gain 30% Damage Reduction. A pool can only form once every 8 seconds. Blood Boil (6 Eternity): When your Core Skills Overpower an enemy, you spawn 3 Volatile Blood Drops. Collecting a Volatile Blood Drop causes it to explode, dealing 60% Physical damage around you. Every 20 seconds, your next Skill is guaranteed to Overpower. Call Familiar (3 Ferocity, 3 Divinity): Casting a Mastery, Weapon Mastery, Macabre, Wrath, or Imbuement Skill calls a bat ally to attack nearby enemies, dealing 80% Physical damage with a 30% chance to Stun. Flowing Veins (2 Ferocity, 2 Divinity, 2 Eternity): You deal 60% increased Damage Over Time to enemies that are moving or affected by a Vampiric Curse. Metamorphosis (2 Ferocity, 2 Divinity, 2 Eternity): When you Evade you turn into a cloud of bats, becoming Unstoppable for 4 seconds. Enemies along your path take 160% Physical damage and are inflicted with Vampiric Curse. Moonrise (6 Ferocity): Hitting an enemy with a Basic Skill grants you 4% Attack Speed for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching maximum stacks, you enter a Vampiric Bloodrage, gaining 160% Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.

Reap Hunter's Acclain from the Blood Harvest Season Event

Home to the highest chance for receiving Potent Blood and Pact Armor drops is the Blood Harvest Seasonal Event. With a wave of his hand, the Dark Master has dispatched cunning Blood Seekers with armies of vampires to conquest the Dry Steppes, Hawezar, and Scosglen regions of Sanctuary, imprisoning its denizens and causing pandemonium.

Putting enemies to the sword during Bounties, bursting Blood Blisters, completing World Events, disrupting vampiric rituals, and freeing prisoners, will earn you some Reputation. With Reputation, you’ll climb Tiers containing useful rewards, such as crafting materials, Items, and Pact consumables.

Inside the Blood Harvest, you’ll have the chance to acquire Blood Lures, which summon Blood Seekers for you to extinguish. You can also use any Seeker Keys you find to free prisoners of the Dark Master's army or on Seekers Caches to receive Pact Armor, Pact Consumables, and Potent Blood.

New Events

There will also be new World Events and Dungeon Events where you can go toe-to-toe with more Blood Seekers and other vampire foot soldiers as well. The dark master’s army calls some of Sanctuary’s Dungeons home—delve into their depths to see what secrets lie in wait.

New Endgame Bosses

Reinforcements from the darkest depths of the Burning Hells take hold of Sanctuary, ushering in a new era of death and wanton destruction. This batch of Uber difficulty Endgame bosses are not for the faint of heart, but the chance to receive Unique items and Cosmetic items await those who muster the courage to stand against them. Each boss has a variety of Unique items they can drop, with some of those being exclusive to only that boss. The same goes for the special Cosmetic items they can potentially drop.

You can test your hand at slaying these unsightly abominations in the Eternal or Seasonal Realms starting in World Tier III, with even more intense encounters awaiting you in World Tier IV. These foes will only grant you an audience on their terms.

Below is a list of the bosses and the requirements to encounter them.

Grigoire, The Galvanic Saint (World Tier III and IV): You must gather enough Living Steel from the Tortured Offering in Helltide. In addition to Unique items that can only drop from Grigoire, you also have a chance to receive the Demonbinder Mount Armor Cosmetic.

Echo of Varshan (World Tier III and IV): Defeat Grotesque Debtors during Whispers of the Dead for a chance to receive parts of Varshan’s body. The Tree of Whispers collections—gained from turning in Grim Favors—guarantees a part of Varshan’s body. Once you have enough parts, including a Malignant Heart if you’re playing on World Tier IV, you can summon Varshan. The Flesh-Weld Rod Trophy has a chance to drop from this boss in addition to Unique items that can only drop from Varshan.

The Beast in the Ice (World Tier IV): Gather Distilled Fear while completing Tier 30 or higher Nightmare Dungeons. After you have enough, visit the Occultist and craft the Glacial Fissure Nightmare Sigil, activate it, then you can fight The Beast in the Ice. The Skull Torch and Fell Steed Mount Trophies can potentially drop from this boss, in addition to Unique items exclusive to it.

Dark Master (World Tier IV): Defeat a World Boss on World Tier IV or complete a Legion Event. From these activities you’ll acquire Exquisite Blood. Once you have enough, you’ll be able to summon the Dark Master. The Diadem of the Ancient Helm Cosmetic can potentially drop from this boss, in addition to Unique items exclusive to it.

Echo of Duriel (World Tier IV): Defeat both Grigoire, The Galvanic Saint and Varshan in World Tier IV to collect Mucus-Slick Eggs and Shards of Agony. Once you have enough, you’ll be able to summon the Lord of Pain, Duriel! Out of this group of Bosses, Duriel is the only one who has a chance to drop Uber Unique items. The smoldering Brimstone Mount can also potentially drop from this boss.

Updated Endgame Activities

• The time between Legion Events has been reduced from 30 to 25 minutes.
  • Legion Event warning timers increased from 5 to 10 minutes.
  • Fixed an issue where the Legion Event pin would not display at the edge of a player’s mini-map if a Whisper was active for the Legion Event.
• The World Boss fight is available more frequently to players on all World Tiers as the Spawn Times have been reduced from 6 hours to 3 hours and 30 minutes.
  • World Boss warning timers have increased from 30 to 60 minutes.
  • Fixed an issue where the World Boss pin would not display at the edge of a player’s mini-map if a Whisper was active for the World Boss.
  • For increased visibility, a message is now broadcast to all players when the World Boss is 15 minutes away from spawning.
• Gold and Experience rewards have been increased from the following activities:
  • Helltide Chests
  • Cashing in Grim Favors
  • Completing individual Whispers
• To ensure enemies constantly give experience relative to the current player level, the Nightmare Sigils rewarded from Whisper Caches will now always be within 5 Levels of the highest-level Nightmare Dungeon the player has completed.
• To improve readability, Helltide Chests now have specific icons on the map to indicate their type.
• Whisper Caches adhere to the item slot of the cache.

Battle Pass & Season Journey

As you hunt down Lord Zir’s acolytes with Erys and unlock the secrets of your newfound Vampiric Powers, you’ll earn rewards from the Season Journey and Battle Pass.

The Season Journey is broken into Chapters with tasks to complete. As you progress through the Journey, you’ll earn rewards befitting Sanctuary’s defenders, such as new Legendary Aspects, the Salmagundi mount, Strips and Points mount armor, and 3 Scrolls of Amnesia, which provide a free Skill Tree and Paragon Board reset. The Journey also provides Favor—the resource used to climb through the Battle Pass’ Tiers—which can also be earned naturally by playing aspects of the game.

Season Journey Chapter Objectives

Chapter 1

Complete 7 of 9 objectives:

• The Crimson Garden - Collect Reddamine, found in Dry Steppes [x10]
• Kind Stranger - Complete Priority or Side Quests [x3]
• What Lurks Below - Complete a Cellar
• Waste Not - Salvage Common items at the Blacksmith or Jeweler [x7]
• Across the Golden Wastes - Complete Dungeons in Dry Steppes [x2]
• Trouble in the Wilds - Complete a World Event
• Contract Forged - Equip a piece of Pact Armor, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• A Drop of Blood - Activate a Vampiric Power, available after completing or skipping the Campaign

Chapter 2

Complete 9 of 11 objectives:

• Forsaken Offerings - Obtain Caches from the Tree of Whispers by completing Whispers [x2]
• Vault Delver - Complete 8 Cellars
• Ruins Reclaimed - Conquer a Stronghold
• Finer Clarity - Upgrade your Potion to Minor at the Alchemist
• Path to Strength - Unlock Aspects in the Codex of Power, such as through completing Dungeons [x8]
• Baptized in Blood - Reach level 25
• Deliver us from Evil - Rescue Villagers within the Blood Harvest, available after completing or skipping the Campaign [x5]
• Vampire No More - Defeat a Blood Seeker, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• Tides of Blood - Activate a Vampiric Power that requires at least 3 Pacts, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• Contract Reforged - Add or remove Pacts from a piece of armor, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• Bejeweled - Craft a Gem at the Jeweler

Chapter 3

Complete 10 of 13 objectives:

• Grim Claim - Obtain Caches from the Tree of Whispers by completing Whispers - [x5]
• Champion of the Lost - Conquer Strongholds [x3]
• Wonders Distilled - Craft Elixirs of any type at the Alchemist [x5]
• Touching the Eternal - Unlock Aspects in the Codex of Power, such as through completing Dungeons [x6]
• Exceptional Potency - Upgrade your Potion to Light at the Alchemist
• Novice Reaper - Reach Reputation level 3 in the Blood Harvest, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• Lancing Boils - Destroy Blood Blisters within the Blood Harvest, available after completing or skipping the Campaign [x7]
• Ascending Darkness - Upgrade a Vampiric Power to level 2 by consuming Potent Blood, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• Sought Out - Defeat Blood Seekers, available after completing or skipping the Campaign [x12]
• Therapeutic - Purify Seeds of Hatred in Hostile areas [x700]
• Susurration - Open a Silent Chest, found randomly in Sanctuary, with a Whispering Key from the Purveyor of Curiosities
• The Father’s Gate - Complete the Cathedral of Light to unlock the III Nightmare World Tier
• Potent Vows - Equip a piece of armor with 5 Pacts engraved on it

Chapter 4

Complete 9 of 11 objectives t:

• Cut the First Ear - Kill another Player in a Hostile area
• Exceeded Potential - Improve a Paragon Glyph to Rank 4 after finishing Nightmare Dungeons
• The Depths of Fear - Use Nightmare Sigils to empower Nightmare Dungeons, and then complete them [x5]
• Pilgrim of Horror - Complete a Tier 10 or higher Nightmare Dungeon
• Restored Glory - Upgrade items to Rank 4 at the Blacksmith or Jeweler [x2]
• The Bigger They Are - Defeat a World Boss
• Sanguine Culling - Defeat the Blood Seeker Council, summoned with Blood Lures in the Blood Harvest
• A Congealed God - Defeat Lord Zir, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• Mark of Vampirism - Upgrade a Vampiric Power to level 3 by consuming Potent Blood, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• Guild - Defeat the Echo of Varshan in III Nightmare, summoned beneath the Tree of Whispers with materials from III Nightmare Whisper Caches
• In Agreement - Equip a piece of armor with 5 identical Pacts engraved on it

Slayer

Complete 9 of 11 objectives :

• Potent Portable - Craft an Elixir of at least Required Level 65 at the Alchemist
• Prophecy Pluripotent - Open Tortured Gifts of 6 different type during Helltide
• Blessing of the Strong - Equip Sacred Legendary items in every slot
• Lilith’s Undoing - Purify Seeds of Hatred in Hostile areas [x5000]
• Reaching for Greatness - Improve a Paragon Glyph to Rank 21 after finishing Nightmare Dungeons
• Sojourner Into Darkness - Complete a Tier 20 or higher Nightmare Dungeon
• Threshold of Damnation - Complete the Fallen Temple to unlock IV Torment World Tier
• Crop of Blood - Reach Reputation Level 10 in the Blood Harvest, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• Stormwatch - Defeat Grigoire in III Nightmare, summoned in Dry Steppes with Living Steel from Helltides
• Fully Avowed - Possess 20 total Pacts across equipped armor at once
• Triple Threat - Upgrade Vampiric Powers to Level 3 by consuming Potent Blood [x2]
• Jewel Crush - Craft a Flawless Gem at the Jeweler

Champion

Complete 10 of 12 objectives:

• Come at Me - Siphon from an enemy as the Hatred’s Chosen, attained by killing several Players in a row in Hostile areas
• Veteran of Ashes - Acquire Cinders during Helltide [x5000]
• Shattered Fiends - Defeat every World Boss in IV Torment
• Dark Dreamer - Complete a Tier 50 or higher Nightmare Dungeon
• Lifegiving Draught - Upgrade your Potion to Major at the Alchemist
• Anointed in Blood - Reach level 90
• Shock and Awe - Defeat Girgoire in IV Torment, summoned in Dry Steppes with Living Steel from Helltides
• Harbinger of Ice - Defeat The Beast in the Ice in IV Torment, summoned with Distilled Fear from Tier 30 or higher Nightmare dungeons
• Remembrance - Defeat the Echo of Varshan in IV Torment, summoned beneath the Tree of Whispers with materials from III Nightmare or IV Torment Whisper Caches
• Forgiveness - Defeat Lord Zir in IV Torment, summoned in Fractured Peaks with Exquisite Blood from IV Torment World Bosses or Legion Events
• Heir to Transcendence - Equip Ancestral Legendary items in every slot
• Quintessence - Upgrade Vampiric Powers to Level 3 by consuming Potent Blood [x5]

Destroyer

Complete 7 of 9 objectives:

• Exterminator - Defeat Duriel in IV Torment, summoned in Kehjistan with materials from Grigoire and the Echo of Varshan [x2]
• Labor of Love - Purify Seeds of Hatred in Hostile areas - [x22,222]
• Lootmaster - Open multiple Tortured Gifts during a single Helltide in IV Torment [x10]
• Titanomachy - Defeat World Bosses [x12]
• Avatar of Sanctuary’s Might - Equip at least 8 Ancestral Unique items simultaneously
• Incarnate of Nightmares - Complete a Tier 90 or higher Nightmare Dungeon
• Glyphmaster - Improve Paragon Glyphs to Rank 21 by completing Nightmare Dungeons [x5]
• A Bloodied Head, High - Reach Reputation level 18 in the Blood Harvest, available after completing or skipping the Campaign
• Blessed Mother Departed - Defeat the Echo of Lilith in IV Torment, remembered in Nevesk after reaching level 90
  

Trailer

Watch the trailer below to meet Erys, a vampire hunter who stalks these blood leeches throughout Sanctuary, voiced by actress and producer Gemma Chan.